Are you in the throws of building a new team? In that case, whether it's a sports team, youth group, cultural group, or corporate team, you're going to need plenty of ideas for team names. That's no easy task! So, here you have a few ideas as to how to go about choosing a terrific team building name.

First and foremost, the team leader should get together with all team members, and ask each individual for their ideas. You're bound to be presented with many and varied suggestions, so it will be no easy task making the final choice. But, it's extremely important that everyone has their say, and approves of the name picked. For, this is a team and, as such, you'll want everyone to feel happy about the name, believing that each and every one of them has participated in its selection.

However, before letting your team loose on volunteering all their suggestions, you may like to mention the following tips to them.

Your team will need to consider its function, and come up with a name that complements this. If it's sport's oriented, a strong - even aggressive - name could be appropriate like the Chargers or Raiders. On the other hand, a cultural group might prefer a gentler-sounding name, whilst a corporate team would do better to choose something to match their business aims and standards.

To get some ideas, your team members may like to look at names chosen by well-known teams in their field. Sometimes these are names of birds or animals, like Panthers and Sharks, and may be accompanied by a colour. Often the names are based around different types of groups. For example, Pirates, Indians and Angels.

Is your team purely local? Then why not make the town or city part of the team name, accompanied by an appropriate adjective, noun, or color. Or, if the team is part of a company, why not use the firm's name in the same way? Make use of words such as "champions", "heroes", etc.

A team name needs to be as short and snappy as possible. Don't worry about it sounding slightly exaggerated - rather that than having it too mild and suggestions of company names . And, consider using rhyming and alliteration.

Yet another way of coming up with team building names is to take the initials of all its members, juggle them around, and make them into suitable words. This way, everyone has a share in the name.

Once you've decided on a name, you'll then want to come up with a suitable slogan for the team. To do this, take each letter of the name, and think of an appropriate descriptive word which begins with that letter. To give a short, easy example, if your team's name were the "Reds", you'd make your slogan something along the following lines:

R - resolute
E - efficient
D - determined
S - steadfast

And, voila!... There you have your team's slogan or war cry, absolutely perfect for boosting morale, and making everyone feel part of a true team.

Will you be getting T-shirts or other articles with your team name on? Then, be careful not to make the name too long. Otherwise, it either won't fit on or, if it does, it will be too small for everyone to see!